The present invention relates to a method of preparing sphingosine derivatives, including, but not limited to, the four enantiomers of sphingosine.
Sphingolipids (i.e., ceramides, sphingomyclin and gangliosides) constitute a broad class of biologically important compounds. These materials are known to act as biological response modifiers, and have potential uses in the treatment of diseases in which the progression of the disease, or in which the therapy for the disease, involves growth factors, hormones, or a variety of drugs based on the mechanism of action of such compounds. For example, it is known that sphingosine is a potent inhibitor of protein kinase C in vivo and in vitro.
There exists a need, therefore, for a method of efficiently preparing sphingosine derivatives.
There also exists a need for a synthetic route to each of the sphingosine enantiomers which not only permits the stereoselective production and biological assay of these materials, but which also provides the flexibility to do extensive structure and function modifications.